Buzzetta

Lego Exclusive VIP Han Solo in Carbonite Metal Keychain This is not a toy and actually has some weight to it as the keychain itself is a little more than 2oz. it is lego minifigure sized. Box is fresh and insert is present - $35 SOLD!

Reserved for Recap

This thread will include Lego and Lego associated items. If I see followers or likes, and especially takes that encourages me to list more. There will be City, Star Wars and more listed. Some sets may make you go, "meh" while others may make you say, "mm okay... " My goal is to clear out another storage container. Rules Global shipping available BUT... I will only ship via USPS Priority. US Domestic Shipping available via USPS or UPS PayPal Goods and Service, Check, Money Order, Local Pickup I go by timestamp of whoever commits to buying whether that be in public or PM.  No HOS, Probation List Members, Problem Children or Drama Llamas (the one person I have on ignore. Unfortunately I have to make this an explicit rule.) No returns - this is Spring Cleaning time - additional pics are available upon request, ask any questions beforehand. Since I am working from home I ship out same or next day that you pay. Why buy from me? On loose sets, I am taking the time to build and then deconstruct the sets to make sure everything is there. Most of these sets are out of the box new. I don't usually if ever put stickers on the sets so the sticker sheets are fresh No, I am not beating the prices on sets that are 99% complete. 99% complete is not complete. Buzz, I have seen you say that you sell this stuff on Facebook so why list here? Consider this the preliminary sale. In order to list things in the groups I have to list all sets all at once. Boards get's first dibs and I get a loading area for Facebook and eBay for whatever is left over. A Song...

I roll my eyes at Diego Luna, Sara Frazetta, and anyone else that is going to gummy up the lines... Out of every signing they have had, I have participated in two. I did the first McFarlane thing because... McFarlane. I did the Eastman one because I hang around a boardie that religiously collects Turtles and the itch rubbed off on me to submit a book just because. I have not submitted for any other signing and and do not plan to. However, I usually send books down and the TAT's still give me pause to do so. So.. no books sent.

Ugh... Yes, I would have spent $60 to preorder that set on Amazon to get that amazing version of Captain Rex. Get Rex and sell the others to offset the cost. Cannot wait for it to come back in stock.

um... there is a lot of stuff that is stolen and hidden and then lost over time or kept private. On a more tame end that is usually generally accepted, soldiers often liberated enemy artifacts as souvenirs. Some of those items have been passed down as collector's items over the years. Look what happened with the AF15 artwork. It was 'donated' to the Library of Congress. Yeah right. It was stolen and the guy realized the best way to dump it is to donate it to the government. I am sure someone somewhere still has the cover. Now I am really going.

I am just getting back from another 15 mile bike jaunt and am going to make dinner and do some paperwork. I heard the 'dunk' alert as I was walking away. The comic medium at the time at the inception of the Marvel Universe was considered a low class profession and medium. Lee and multiple artists of the era have said this. The contracts would not have been lucrative in an effort to promote the individuality of the artist and for them to succeed over the company itself. As pointed out it was standard operating procedure for the publisher to retain all original materials submitted to be published as exemplified with Jack and Joe retaining the original artwork submitted to their studio. Now, does Kirby get credit for dreaming all of these characters up? Absolutely. What a genius he was WITH Stan to create these characters. Does he deserve additional compensation just because the characters turned out to be widely successful? No... no he does not. Dreaming up successful characters was part of his job. As stated in many of the contracts, if the artistic creation is not to a certain level that is useable or successful a company may terminate the contract. So, at least in 75', Kirby submitted great ideas not in an effort to gain further compensation but to keep his job. Now, I have to make dinner and then there is a sales thread to organize. I cannot go back in forth here all night otherwise it will distract me from doing what I wanted to do. It will be... epic.

I think comparing it to the music industry is a great analogy. You either abide by your contract or gtfo. You created the music and are signed usually in exchange for the publishing rights to the very music you created. One of the only times I have ever seen it flipped on its end was when Prince wanted out of his contract and vowed to make a country album after he changed his name to the symbol.

If he signed a contract giving Marvel possession and rights over the submitted materials, he either abides by the terms or he terminates the contract by quitting. If he wants to hold out for more in the middle of the contract he is certainly welcome to try and then the two sides go from there, like when an NFL player holds out and does not report to training camp in an effort to restructure. Sometimes it works. Sometimes they find themselves cut. So... no... I don't feel bad for this guy.

The 1975 contract is online for anyone to read through. So even when he came back in 1975, it was that the, "Writer / Artist grants in Marvel the sole and exclusive right to all Material delivered to Marvel hereunder including, but not limited to, (a) the exclusive right to secure copyrights (s) in the Material in the United States, Canada, and throughout the world, (b) the magazine rights therein of every kind, (c) all film and dramatic rights of every kind, (d) all anthology, advertising and promotion rights therein, and (e) all reprint rights. The exclusive rights herein granted shall be Marvel's property for the period of the copyright and any renewals thereof." Marvel owned it all. He signed his name to it. His choice. As far as why Marvel settled instead of going to court. Settling does not mean you are wrong. Settling sometimes means that you recognize that the cost fighting it outweighs the settlement. In another case you may know you are right but you are worried about the perception from the public so you do a settlement with a NDA. And yes, there are instances where you know you are wrong and want something to go away as quickly as possible. The problem with settling, which is why I say I would not have offered him a single page can be provided by the example of NYC. The city offers way too many settlements even when they know that the person is full of it and the case is meritless. It's easier to pay the person to go away than tie up more of the city's time. The problem is that there are too many that make claims out of NYC because it basically comes to an attempt at 'free money." They even tell you on their city website that they prefer to settle. https://nycourts.gov/courthelp/GoingToCourt/settlements.shtml Free money. This is why I would not have given Kirby a single page. Give a mouse a cookie and then every other artist wants to know what they can get outside the contract that they signed.

What was annoying was that it took over 2hrs to get to Brooklyn. Then I only had to stay in Brooklyn for a half hour. Then I turned around and went home and that only took around 45 minutes. This is why I normally take the train. I get fewer bad thoughts in my head.

It's a combination of a few reasons. Brick and Mortar Storefront Okay so here is the extended reason. Hasbro had no problem making things like that in the 80's and 90's when it was cheaper to do so. That $100 GI Joe Aircraft carrier and that $100 GI Joe Space Shuttle Complex would probably run consumers $500-600 each given the increase in plastics. The current market does not support the footprint in brick and mortar stores since brick and mortar is on the decline. Hasbro recognized this trend in the early 2000's to mid 2000's when they tried to revive the GI Joe line. Brick and Mortar stores were not interested in devoting that much retail space to "boys" toys like they were in the 80's when Star Wars, Transformers, and GI Joe each had their own devoted aisle at Toys R Us. Hasbro relied on early internet storefronts to sell what was nicknamed the DTC (Direct to Consumer) GI Joe line. Eventually that too failed and we got modern Joes with updated articulation. Jerk Collectors Like Myself When Hasbro revived the Star Wars line in 1995 under the Kenner banner, there were vehicles aplenty and retailers could not order enough especially as the vehicles were cast from the original molds. They did well enough for Hasbro to create new molds and new vehicles. Then... the price of plastic increased and Hasbro had to increase prices. What collectors noticed was that anything that did not sell would be bought out by TJ Maxx and other discount chains. A lot of these upper end vehicles were geared toward adult collectors. Mom is not buying her kid a $100 X-Wing. However, this guy writing it did. What we learned on the collecting forum was that if you held off on buying it, it would eventually be discounted. I am not talking a small discount either. Even two years ago when Hasbro gave us a highly detailed Rogue One Imperial Assault Tank in Vintage Packaging which MANY collectors asked for, it went to clearance. It was priced appropriately at $79.99 for what it was. However, everyone started in with, "Wait for it to hit clearance." Eventually you could score these on clearance for $35 if not cheaper in some areas. On top of that you still had people buying out exclusives and then trying to flip them if they did not sell within 90 days you would just take them back to Toys R Us or Target or Walmart. I admit that I did that frequently. It helped pay for college books and the hustle was real. This got the brick and mortar stores to turn their back toward boy's toys even more. Why crowd source? It's an excellent way to get what the adult collector wants. With Hasbro it all started with the Sail Barge. For almost thirty something years the fans asked for a sail barge. Hasbro basically said, "no." It's going to be a money loss for us if we do this at retail. So, special order was the only way to go. They made the mock up and wanted to see if there was enough support to warrant making it. There was an overwhelming support so Hasbro sold it directly to the consumer. The fans got their sail barge made and Hasbro reached the number of orders where it justified making it. There have been Haslab projects that failed. They tested the waters with a $300 Cookie Monster that was as close to the actual muppet as you could get with one of those King Kong mechanical and posable skeleton's on the inside. I supported that but it fell short of the goal and was cancelled. With this program Hasbro has been able to offer fans the big items or certain niche items that people would not normally be able to get because it would not be worth the risk. Interestingly, Mattel did it first with some of their product lines.

great question that I will explain in depth later. Guys like me were the problem and caused that. Right now - in traffic

If I did not get a free or heavily discounted pass at NYCC I would stay at home. Now, it's even more so. Companies like Hasbro are KILLING it in the absence of shows. Every week it seems Hasbro is holding online panels, unveiling new product and then directly launching that product from their stores. Other retailers are doing the same. Ten years ago, Hasbro, Mattel, Lego and other companies were staples at NYCC and San Diego. With rising rates for floor space, Hasbro backed off from NYCC and then Lego soon followed. Hasbro had registered the trademark for Hascon but it never really took off as people were focused on cons. With nowhere to go Hasbro and Lego seized the opportunity. As I mentioned, Hasbro has a very strong presence on Facebook and live streams events on YouTube with more people watching than they would ever pack into a hall. They created a loyalty service where I am offered an hour of shopping for product when something is made available before non-members. Lego has branched out on IG and Facebook as well and embraced fan sites as well as holding their own events online. Many other retailers are following suit. CGC has basically eliminated the need for an artist alley. If I am a comic artist I have a choice. Go to a show and sit around hoping people are going to spend money with me or I can align myself with a private signing with CGC, fly down to Florida for two days and then leave with guaranteed money. This pandemic? I think it put another nail in the coffin of overinflated expensive shows. Smaller shows may thrive but I think people will gravitate more to doing their thing online. Online business, as predicted increased during the pandemic but it has not fallen back to the levels that it once was. It has retained part of the market share. People were forced to accommodate themselves to it and now have discovered the convenience for certain things.

Roy, something tell me that you have had the opportunity to talk to Neal Adams and not "Neal Adams" the comic book artist. What is the difference? I always feel as if he is playing a character of himself to promote himself. However when you talk to someone like Larry Hama, the artist and the individual are the same. Is Neal the way he is in private the way he is in public shows?

I can understand if they amended his contract or that they made a peace offering in the fear that he would jump to DC permanently if they felt he was still a draw. Personally, I would have let him go to DC and do whatever he wanted to do and find new talent. There is ALWAYS new talent. As far as what Marvel did in giving some of it back, I kind of get it but not entirely. I was watching a documentary on Shawn Michaels on A&E. Some of those have been actually very good btw. Anyway, when Michael Shawn Hickenbottom hurt his back and said he could never wrestle again, McMahon paid him $750,000 a year after Wrestemania 14 even though he was not working "in compensation". However the reality was that while Hickenbottom stayed home, Vince inserted a non-compete clause so he would not jump to WCW and Turner / Time Warner who Vince McMahon was still losing the Monday night wars to. That made sense because if the character of Shawn Michaels showed up on WCW TV Vince knew that it would be another nail in the coffin in the WWE / WWF. Once Vince bought WCW, Michael Shawn Hickenbottom was miraculously healed and could wrestle again. . Vince had no need to continue paying him now that he owned WCW. ( @jaybuck43, correct me if I am wrong here and add if necessary.) Marvel was never in a position where they would 'lose' to DC. While Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman were probably the top three well known and marketable characters of all time, Marvel's basically took up the majority of spots in the top 20 after that. While DC had superstars, Marvel had depth. I know this is blasphemous but the characters outlive the artists and writers. Once created they take on a life of their own. They may get a stretch of bad writers and artists but they are instantly revivable with new 'good' talent. Kirby made the characters with Lee and neither were replaceable in the creation of those characters. However, better writers have come along since Lee and better artists have come along since Kirby. Kirby signed his contract. Now Kirby had to work under it.

I would not have given him a single page.

I heard that he charges the stores $50 when he signs his name to the credit card receipts.

I am trying to find the four page article that I once had saved on the old computer... detailing where the art went. It involved the warehouse and things getting stolen and destroyed.

Some was sold: https://www.comicsbeat.com/marvel-sold-original-art-in-1973/ Some was stolen: http://jimshooter.com/2011/03/mystery-of-missing-box-of-marve.html/ Some was thrown away: https://www.twomorrows.com/kirby/articles/19stolen.html Personally I think that Bechara has it all and just doesn't want to tell us. And again, there are quite a few of us that understand what 'work for hire' actually is. Kirby and the rest CHOSE to enter a field in art where their publisher owned everything they did and all intellectual property. If they regret doing that then go find another job or pump gas. Just as you are tire of hearing the Stan Lee created everything song and dance from Marvel, which I agree they do push a bit much, I have no remorse for any of the artists who believe they should receive royalties for what they created.

Oh make no mistake, I loved it. I thought it was better than Logan actually but that might be because my expectations were so high due to Logan being so overhyped for me. DOFP could have been the last film in the franchise and I would have thought it was the perfect ending to the whole series.

No one ever sees my brother who lives on the opposite side of the country so as I get older I tease my parents about his existence.

Rest assured, I enjoyed Days of Future Past for what it was... which was possibly the best entry in the more modern X-Men films. At least, what I said below is my take... forum be damned

Unless it is so botched it makes no sense at all I have never been critical of anyone not having firm rules when it comes to Time Travel. If you have ever watched Star Trek then you know what I am talking about. So, I explain it away as Marvel explains Galactus and other literary works depict what 'God' must appear to be in that the perception changes in so far as the character can grasp the concept of either. The mechanics of Time Travel are grasped but still not fully understood and its understanding and impact are a work in progress from the point of view of the characters that you are presently watching. Otherwise you will go nuts. Star Trek, the DC Universe, and marvel all have glaring inconsistencies in their canon regarding time travel. This is why Rick and Morty keep all of that stuff on a box on the shelf. If you nitpick at it too much then you will go nuts trying to enjoy the show.

heh I already do. Ever since it left Netflix that's where I go for my fix. As a kid Bob Ross was perhaps the most influential artist I ever encountered. He truly made it seem like anyone could produce art and I sincerely mean that in a good way. There were no mistakes, everything could be fixed or changed and if you kept at it you would only get better. It saddened me when he passed away as I really felt he brought people together and that he introduced so many to so much that they previously thought was unaccessible to themselves. Last time I felt that way about someone like that was when Anthony Bourdain passed away. I remember at one point taking out my elementary poster paints and doing one of his mountainscapes behind one of the closet doors / inside part of the door in the house when I was in 5th? 4th? grade? My mom was annoyed but I don't think they ever painted over it. If I can get her to hug a tree for @jsilverjanet Let me see if she can take a picture of it and send it over.